


Drifting

by highlyannoying



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim, Gen, M/M, kind of valgrace but mostly friendship idk really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-02 00:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5226323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highlyannoying/pseuds/highlyannoying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of his brain says "Strap in for launch," and he almost laughs out loud. These few moments of preparing to drift are letting him take a second to look at the Jaeger; at what they, in seconds, will be able to control, and he thinks, "Much cooler than a rocket ship."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drifting

“So you’ve never drifted before?”

Leo starts out of his own thoughts, and shakes his head. “Nope,” he says, “First time. They say it’s the hardest. The first time you drift, I mean.”

Jason smiles at him, and it’s so reassuring it puts most of his doubts to rest. There’s still something in the pit of his stomach that’s got his gut in knots, but he’s pretty sure it’s because he really, really doesn’t wanna mess this up. Which is stupid, this isn’t even a one-shot deal. It isn’t like if he screws this up he can never pilot another Jaeger. And besides, he knows this tech inside out.

It’s the not tech he’s worried about. 

And Jason is— well, only a year or two more experienced than him, but he’s piloted before. This is Leo’s learning curve. What if he doesn’t handle it as well as Jason did? What if— _Shut up, Leo._

“Requires focus,” says Jason. “You can’t go off into memories. And it’s a bit overwhelming, the first time.”

“Thanks, man. Really putting my worries to rest there.” Focus, _wow_. He’s really great at that. He looks away, staring straight ahead. Jason laughs, and Leo looks back at him, a ghost of a smile on his face.

“Don’t worry so much. It’s— well, we’re drifting in a minute or two, but I won’t bother trying to explain it. But as long as you can keep your wits about you, it’s like nothing else.” Jason’s expression indicates this is a good nothing else, and so Leo nods, and smiles, and tries to breathe like a normal person.

_Alright, Valdez, focus. Get ready to go._ Part of his brain says, _strap in for launch_ , and he almost laughs out loud. These few moments of preparing to drift are letting him take a second to look at the Jaeger; at what they, in seconds, will be able to control, and he thinks, _Much cooler than a rocket ship._

“Initiating neural handshake in three, two, one—”

He can see everything. 

He can see Jason as a kid, growing up raised by his older sister. He can see Jason’s childhood friend Reyna and how they trained together, grew up together, can see the girl he dated in high school (Piper is her name and Leo almost laughs because he went to boarding school with her as well)— and in turn, he can feel Jason in his memories. 

They thoughts bleed through as one and it’s hard to tell when memories switch from Leo’s to Jason’s. Their knowledge is shared, and Leo can tell how Jason fight and feel his determination, Jason taps into his knowledge of how the Jaeger works. 

His own memories flash by quickly, lasting only a moment, but somehow, he’s living them all again. His high school graduation, his best christmas, his training, his seventh grade friend who he still write occasionally. The real world seems not quite as real in the drift, or just less important. He’s 21, he’s 19, he’s 14, he’s 10—

He’s eight. 

He’s eight and his mother’s machine shop is on fire. It’s on fire and she’d just run back in to grab something, he doesn’t know what. Every instinct in his body is screaming at him to run as fast as he can but instead he bangs his hands on the door, hoping to god it’ll open and his mother will be on the other side, completely fine. 

Please, let her be fine, please, _please_ , let her be fine. 

He’s screaming and his throat is raw and he’s starting to cough and his hands might be burnt. Someone is yelling at him and he doesn’t know who, doesn’t care who, he’s—

“Leo!”

_Jason._

He inhales sharply, and the Jaeger comes back into focus. The memory is still fighting for his mind’s eye, and he can see the fire, and—

_Jason, Jason._

He’d said this needed focus, hadn’t he? Leo uses Jason’s presence in his memory like a lifeline, trying to separate the false from the real, focusing on Jason as the real. His copilot. The Jaeger. 

“Holy shit,” says Leo. The fire is gone. He can feel Jason’s concern, and he knows Jason can feel his own guilt and shame, because his concern increases some more.

“Leo,” says Jason, “Are you with me?”

“Yes,” says Leo, and stares straight ahead. Not that it helps. The drift means he might as well be standing in Jason’s shoes, so not looking at him doesn’t help. 

“Leo, look at me.” Leo pauses, and then turns to face Jason. “You’re doing fine. Stop being so hard on yourself. You even said the first drift was the hardest. You came out of that memory only seconds after I found you in it. Not even. Don’t focus on the drift, alright?” Jason smiles at him again, and Leo nods. “Think about how cool this is.”

Leo smiles himself at that. “How cool this is,” he echoes, and nods again. “I can do that.”

The drift means he can tell Jason’s thinking about what _he_ thinks is cool, and that’s almost cooler. He knows the theory behind this tech inside out, and experiencing it is— it’s something else. Jason’s memories show him how powerful the Jaeger is, how it is to run something like this with someone else. 

“Ready to see her in action?” says Jason.

“You read my mind.”

They move in sync, thought patterns matching one to one. Leo draws his arm back, Jason draws his arm back, the Jaeger draws its arm back, and there’s a moment where Leo clicks in. This is something huge, something that can’t be replicated with words or numbers or theories. This is him and Jason, and they’re not controlling the Jaeger. 

It’s their body. Together. 

It’s a test run, so they can’t do much but move, slowly, and listen to the confirmations that the Jaeger is running smoothly. There’s no Kaiju out there to fight for the moment, but Leo almost wishes there was. This isn’t seeing her in action, he knows, and they won’t really get to until there’s something to fight. Part of his brain reminds him that these aren’t toys, they’re war machines, but that really doesn’t change his opinion.

Jason laughs, and the feeling floats through the drift and makes Leo grin too. He knows Jason’s laughing at how excited he is, and his mood seems to be affecting Jason’s. Or is Jason affecting his mood?

“Think in twos,” says Jason, and Leo knows what he means. They’re having separate emotions, yes, but they’re so woven together it’s kind of pointless to try and pick apart who started what. 

_Us_ , thinks Leo, and he feels, rather than sees, Jason’s nod.

“Oh man,” he says out loud, “This is so much cooler than a rocket ship.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just??? Really like pacific rim?? It's one of my favourite movies?? I have four pacific rim one shots in my drafts, please help me.


End file.
